Space Travels Gone Wrong

With every space launch there's complications, whether it be accidents or incidents resulting in fatality or near-fatality during flight or in training. As of 2013, there have been (18) astronaut and cosmonaut fatalities. Incidents include:

• Parachute failure
• Decompression
• Vehicle Disintegration during launch (the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster)
• Vehicle Disintegration during re-entry (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster)
• Control failure
• Fire in altitude chamber
• Training jet crash
• Fire during spacecraft test
• Drowning during water recovery training
• Spaceship crash during test flight
• Separation failure
• Landing capsule sank in water
• Equipment failure
• Engine shutdown at launch
• Spacesuit or airlock design fault
• Struck twice by lightning during launch
• Premature engine shutdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZYa9ZKZeDkenablejsapi=1

Fun Facts about Space

Awesome Facts about Space!

1. There are thousands of planets in space, not just the (8) in our galaxy.
2. In space, the skin on your feet will peel off!
3. On Venus, one day is longer than one whole Earth year
4. Astronauts are usually placed in quarantine after returning from the moon
5. One million Earths (planets) can fit inside the Sun.
6. After extended time in space, you become taller, then shrink once back on Earth.
7. There's extreme weather in Space
8. Space isn't that far away (only about 100km above the Earth)
9. The hottest planet is not the closest planet to the Sun.
10. The moon looks bigger on the horizon
11. You can still cry in space, but your tears don't fall
12. Dirty underwear and toilet paper has helped grow plants on the ISS
13. There is a dwarf planet named after an Easter island legend
14. The Northern star will eventually change
15. The Apollo crew didn't have any life insurance
16. Metal sticks together in space
17. The furthest manmade object (the Voyager 1) has a message for aliens on-board it

Local Observatories

I love going to the local observatories here in Connecticut. I've had the pleasure of also visiting observatories in Boston, Canada, Florida, and in August I'll be visiting the observatory in Aruba!

• Rolnick Observatory (Westport, CT)
• John J. McCarthy Observatory (New Milford)
• Van Vleck Observatory (Middletown)
• Boothe Memorial Observatory (Stratford)
• Bowman Observatory (Greenwich)
• Leitner Family Observatory (New Haven)
• Stamford Observatory (Stamford)
• Westside Observatory (Danbury)

Skywatching

Skywatching is popular among many people, whether it be because space interests the person, a first date, a special occasion, or watching space launches. The link below can be used to find what is happening outside our planet on a daily basis!

http://www.space.com/skywatching

Space Rovers

A rover (or sometimes planetary rover) is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of a planet or other celestial body. Some rovers have been designed to transport members of a human space flight crew; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots. Rovers usually arrive at the planetary surface on a lander-style spacecraft.Rovers are created to land on another planet, besides Earth, to find out information and to take samples. They can collect dust, rocks, and even take pictures.

Credit Given To: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_(space_exploration)

Space Shuttles

The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. They were used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST); conducted science experiments in orbit; and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station. The Shuttle fleet's total mission time was 1322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds

Credit Given To: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle

Black Holes

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.

Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.

How Big Are Black Holes?
Black holes can be big or small. Scientists think the smallest black holes are as small as just one atom. These black holes are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain. Mass is the amount of matter, or "stuff," in an object.

Another kind of black hole is called "stellar." Its mass can be up to 20 times more than the mass of the sun. There may be many, many stellar mass black holes in Earth's galaxy. Earth's galaxy is called the Milky Way.

The largest black holes are called "supermassive." These black holes have masses that are more than 1 million suns together. Scientists have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A. It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths.

Credit Given To: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html